San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Activism

Persistence Pays Off! The NRA’s Money Troubles | Progressive Activist Calendar August 3 – 13, 2018

by

Once again, an ongoing protest has changed the political landscape. Court documents filed by the National Rifle Association reveal an increasingly desperate financial situation for one of the most powerful political institutions in the U.S.

Pressure from New York State regulators in the wake of the Parkland, Florida massacre — including a letter asking financial institutions to heed “the voices of the passionate, courageous, and articulate young people who have experienced this recent horror first hand” — has led the National Rifle Association to plead in court that it will “be unable to exist… or pursue its advocacy mission.” They say the organization may be forced to shut down NRA TV or its print publications.

The lesson here about persistence should be taken to heart. Congressman Darrell Issa gave up after weekly protests outside his offices. The future of politics in National City will be changed for the better, thanks to the ongoing efforts of the folks standing up for Earl McNeil. And elected Trumpistas everywhere are looking over their shoulders, fearing a Blue Wave made possible by thousands of organizing efforts.

There are less than 100 days until the General Election. Now–not later–is the time to stand up and be counted. Candidates and causes need your time, your energy, and your support. There are many opportunities to join the fray in this week’s Progressive Calendar.   [Read more…]

Responding to the Unconscious Bias and Racism at National City Council Meetings

by

By Mark Lane and Shane Parmely

We went to the Tuesday, July 24, National City Council meeting to speak out against the police brutality that left Earl McNeil brain dead.

For almost six weeks, we’ve peacefully and loudly protested at the National City Council meetings. For six weeks, we’ve asked the National City Police Department (NCPD) to release the videotapes pertaining to the in-custody death of Earl McNeil. For six weeks, we’ve been ignored by the three men who control the National City Council and the NCPD. For six weeks, we’ve been treated to excessive force and violence by the NCPD.

And last week, after an hour of the police, including Chief Manny Rodriguez, repeatedly and openly pushing us and other people attending the meeting, we sat down on the floor and were subsequently arrested.   [Read more…]

Will San Diego Become the Largest City in the State to Ban Styrofoam?

by

Councilman Chris Ward appeared before the Ocean Beach Town Council last Wednesday night and urged OBceans to support his efforts to ban styrofoam.

He explained his proposal passed the Council’s Rules Committee unanimously on July 11 and is heading to the full Council sometime this fall.

And if San Diego does pass it, the city will become the fourth city in San Diego County to ban food and beverage containers made of styrofoam – also called polystyrene. Others include Solana Beach, Encinitas and Imperial Beach.   [Read more…]

An Open Letter in Support of SB 1186 to Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher

by

By Shahid Buttar / Electronic Frontier Foundation

Dear Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, 

We live in dangerous times. The rights of people of color, immigrants, workers, women, and asylum seekers are threatened every day. As history has repeatedly shown, one of the most powerful tools of oppression is surveillance. California has the opportunity to ensure public control and oversight of the spying technologies that law enforcement is most likely to abuse. Right now, the power is in your hands to ensure it moves forward.

With each year, civil rights advocates have watched technology advance amidst a climate of growing secrecy, allowing authorities to collect more and more personal data from more and more people and store it indefinitely, without parameters for how it can be used, with whom it can be shared, or what to do if it is misused or abused. We ask you, as chair of the California Assembly Appropriations Committee, to pass S.B. 1186 out of the committee without further amendments.

We have reached the point where unchecked surveillance may pose a public safety risk as great as the ones the technology is meant to address.   [Read more…]

Abolish ICE: Why We Need to Abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement | Video Worth Watching

by

From the Now This YouTube page:

Sean McElwee, co-founder of Data for Progress, thinks ICE should be abolished.

“ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was created in 2003, as part of post-9/11 legislation that housed immigration enforcement under the Department of Homeland Security,” he explained. “This signaled a shift towards viewing immigrants as the threat to national security.”

After 9/11, immigrants were seen as a terrorist threat, and the policies that followed were created for mass migrant deportation. Trump and Stephen Miller have not only enforced this anti-immigration strategy, but increased it with aggressive, inhumane measures like their zero tolerance policy. ICE has been in the middle of all of this, and have become synonymous with these practices that are tearing families apart and causing long-term residents in the country to self-deport.

“We need to stop deporting people for what is fundamentally the civil violation of being in this country without documentation. We choose as a society what is criminalized and how those laws are enforced,” said McElwee. “We don’t have a militarized police force to prosecute financial crimes because the people who commit those crimes are powerful white men. We have to dismantle not just ICE, but the thousands of small offenses that put people on ICE’s radar. From marijuana possession to turnstile jumping, people enter into ICE’s net through over-criminalization.”

  [Read more…]

Why Does It Feel Like We’re Losing If There’s So Much Winning?

by

Is your head spinning yet? Mine is. As a certified news junkie™ I had a hard time digesting today’s headlines. 

It’s a good day to remember that the only real way out of the mess we currently find ourselves in includes voting on November 6th.

Let’s start with Law and Order, White House Edition…
  [Read more…]

How U.S. Involvement In Central America Led To a Border Crisis | Video Worth Watching

by

So many of the recent asylum seekers along our southern border are from the Central American nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Is this just coincidence? Hardly. For anyone that’s used the term “Banana Republic” without being clear how that term originated (actually, even if you do know how the history of that term), here’s a brief look back at how U.S. involvement In Central America led to our current border crisis.   [Read more…]

Out-of-Town Vacation Rental Owners Summoned for ‘Firestorm of Anger’ At City Council Meeting

by

When the San Diego City Council voted by a wide majority on July 16 to regulate short-term vacation rentals, it was using the democratic process to resolve an issue that has been plaguing the city and especially the beach and coastal neighborhoods for years. By a vote of 6 to 3, the bi-partisan majority vote saved coastal residences for long-term renters.

Yet, immediately, the Airbnb crowd cried foul, threatening legal suits – and more against the vote – which has to be confirmed on Wednesday, August 1 in a so-called “second reading” of the ordinance. The second reading will be at 1PM in the Council Chambers at 202 C Street, 12th floor.

So, now Airbnb, HomeAway, and local STVR operators are planning “an all-out assault” against the regulations just passed coming up for that second reading. One owner of a local mini-empire of vacation rentals has called for a “firestorm of anger” to be unleashed at the City Council meeting.   [Read more…]

The Shape of the Human Heart | Readers Write

by

By Trevor Barton

As an elementary school teacher and a writer, I often recognize my students as the shape of the human heart.

One of those students is Maria, a 7-year-old second-grader. Her parents fled the after-effects of the brutal civil war in El Salvador and found a new life on the farms and in the fields of South Carolina.

She is like those farms and fields, with dark skin the color of the ground and a garden of a heart that produces love and joy as if they were tomatoes and beans.

I have seen her hold the hand of a frightened kindergartner in the cafeteria lunch line during early morning breakfast and offer her shoulder to a crying friend who scraped her knee on the blacktop during recess. She is a beautiful child.   [Read more…]

The Right-Wing Firestorm Starting With the Smear of ACORN Rages On

by

By Peter Dreier

In their recent documentary ACORN and the Firestorm, Reuben Atlas and Sam Pollard not only reveal how the mighty ACORN fell but also show how the attack on ACORN was a dress rehearsal for our current toxic political culture, including the rise of Donald Trump and the alt-right.

Through archival clips and interviews with ACORN staffers, leaders and members, friendly and hostile politicians, and political analysts, the film recounts the group’s history, starting with its founding in Arkansas in 1970 by Wade Rathke, a charismatic and brazen young organizer.

In addition to registering millions of voters, ACORN assisted the working poor to buy homes and avoid foreclosure, challenged banks’ racist and predatory lending practices, stopped companies from spewing cancer-causing pollution in low-income neighborhoods, got local governments to fix up abandoned buildings that had become havens for crime, and fought for fair treatment by employers, landlords, insurance companies, and government. ACORN led the campaign to get Congress to strengthen the anti-redlining Community Reinvestment Act. It organized the victims of Hurricane Katrina to gain a voice in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. It spearheaded the living-wage movement in more than 100 cities and helped make the federal Earned Income Tax Credit an effective anti-poverty program.   [Read more…]

Rep. Duncan Hunter’s Looking Mighty Nervous | Progressive Activist Calendar July 27 – August 6, 2018

by

Congresscritter Duncan Hunter certainly looks and acts like a man in legal trouble. An ongoing Justice Department investigation into questionable campaign spending practices has been threatening to derail the East County Republican for over a year.

On Thursday, Rep. Hunter took to the floor to denounce the Justice Department, starting off with “…imagine living in a country where the federal government decides whether you’re jailed or set free based on your politics.”

He went on to support the now-dead bill to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, saying the DOJ is“corrupt, answers to no one and uses the law to corrupt countless others…” Maybe he was just in a hurry to join the gang for cocktails. Maybe not. It’s weird how all these Republicans are up in arms over the actions of an agency when they control all three branches of government.     [Read more…]

Immigrant Family Reunification Falls Way Short

by

It’s been nine weeks since U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw gave the government a deadline for reuniting the more than 2,500 children who were taken from parents apprehended while crossing the border.

This isn’t over. What passes for compliance in the eyes of the court and the chattering class on cable news doesn’t match reality for hundreds of parents and children.

As the deadline came and went dozens of children and their parents engaged in non-violent civil disobedience at the U.S. Capitol proclaiming I AM A CHILD. They sang lullabies and drew pictures of their families to remind elected leaders that all children are human beings who belong with their families.

  [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry